AC Repair in Troy, NY
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Rensselaer County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real work, then long stretches of standing still
Your air conditioner only earns its keep from July through August here. The rest of the year it sits, and summer afternoons averaging 79°F are not the hardest test a system can face. But that on off pattern, hard work for two months then months of doing nothing, is its own kind of strain. Capacitors and contactors that sit idle can fail to kick on right when the first hot week hits.
Rensselaer County has logged 301 damaging wind events over the last ten years, and wind that strong moves more than branches. It throws grit and debris into the outdoor unit and can rock the cabinet on its pad, loosening electrical connections. Hail has hit here too, 14 events in ten years with stones up to an inch. That size can dent a condenser's fins, and bent fins block the airflow the unit needs to cool properly.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 14 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 301 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would save little on running costs in Rensselaer County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Rensselaer County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New York fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when a part like a capacitor or contactor has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the compressor has failed or the system uses R-22 refrigerant, which is no longer made.
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant level is low from a leak. A dirty filter will freeze the coil over time, and once that happens you get weak airflow with no cooling at all. Check the filter first since that part is easy to see. If it's clean and you're still not getting cold air, the system likely needs a contractor to check refrigerant levels and look for a leak.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to drain out through a line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips inside instead. A contractor can clear the line, and if the leak keeps coming back it may mean the drain pan has rusted through.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting bumped too high will stop the system before it starts. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker box, since AC units trip breakers when a component inside is failing. With 301 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, a tripped breaker or a power interruption is a common reason a unit won't restart on its own. If the breaker is fine and won't stay on, the capacitor or the compressor itself may be the problem, and that needs a contractor to diagnose.